


a thing of inconvenience

by bukkunkun



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Feels, Awkward Conversations, Cute, Fluff and Angst, Interspecies Romance, Love Confessions, M/M, Metaphors, Multiple Selves, Not Canon Compliant, Self-Denial
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-07 17:58:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11064213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bukkunkun/pseuds/bukkunkun
Summary: a direct sequel todancing all night.“What is the matter, my friend?”“It is a thing of inconvenience,” he said. “Though not with me, nor with regards to our progress and prowess in battle.”“Oh?”“My master—Yusuke—has been struggling with confliction.”“What does this confliction mean for our conversation? Is he sick?”“Frankly put,” Goemon huffed, “Yusuke is in love.”a story about children in love, accepting the inevitable, and indulging in inconveniences.





	a thing of inconvenience

**Author's Note:**

> SO OKAY I BEAT THE 6TH PALACE AND I'VE NEVER BEEN SO RATTLED TO THE BONE DO YOU KNOW I HAVE TO REWRITE THIS AKECHI/FEM!AKIRA PORN I'D BEEN WRITING THANKS TO THAT OH MY GOD!!!!! I LOVE AKIRA HOLY SHIT HE'S TOO GOOD AT THIS PHANTOM THIEF BULLSHIT 
> 
> BUT ALSO!!!! to those who have been making do without arsene for a while (like me) it was such a huge surprise to see him again in the 6th palace i literally leapt for joy i missed, ,, ,, him, , ,, ,
> 
> so in the fic, spoilers up to the fifth palace but i'm currently storming the 7th. possibly in a single run. i'm overlevelled, the reaper farming is too much,
> 
> is definitely, **explicitly** shippy now. thank you for boarding the arsene/akira ship it's way better than [SPOILERS]'s ship thanks
> 
>  **EDIT:** for clarity's sake, by ship, I mean a literal boat. The cruise ship. You know which one I'm talking about. I don't mean to diss any ships, as I ship literally everything in this game. Sorry for the inconvenience.

“A quick word, Arsene?”

It was rare for Personas to leave their masters’ side, but Goemon had business to address and their young masters were all currently gathering their strength again inside a safe room. Arsene nodded at his fellow Persona and the two of them hunched together at the corner of the room, while the others busied themselves with their masters and their friends—Johanna, her engines purring Makoto to sleep, Captain Kidd, charging Futaba’s laptop while Necronomicon buzzed along above her, Carmen, singing softly to Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke and Joker into sleep, all piled on top of each other. Zorro kept Morgana and Futaba busy with little tricks he could do with a handkerchief, and Haru’s Milady was speaking with her quietly in their own private corner of the safe room. Arsene and Goemon were content with the level of privacy their corner of the safe room afforded them.

“What is the matter, my friend?” Arsene asked, his hand resting on Goemon’s shoulder, and the other Persona shook his head.

“It is a thing of inconvenience,” he said. “Though not with me, nor with regards to our progress and prowess in battle.”

“Oh?” Arsene cocked his head.

“My master—Yusuke—has been struggling with confliction.” Goemon confided. “He cannot bring himself to draw, has an abysmal appetite and he throws himself into fruitless, distracted work. It is something he cannot disclose to your Akira—” an odd rush blossomed in Arsene’s chest at that, as it had been doing as of late, for some reason, “And while he refuses to completely divulge his secrets regarding it to me, I know him, regardless.”

I am thou, thou art I, they had vowed, after all.

“I see.” Arsene replied.

“It is truly worrisome. Without his guardian to watch over him the responsibility has fallen onto me to remind him to eat, and even then it is difficult to get him to.”

“Why so?”

Goemon sighed. “Pole beans, salt and water, a proper meal do not make.”

“Ah.” Arsene frowned. “What does this confliction mean for our conversation? Is he sick?”

“Frankly put,” Goemon huffed, “Yusuke is in love.”

Arsene’s world slowed down. “In love.” He echoed, and his head felt much larger than it should.

“Ah, yes.” Goemon sighed, unmindful of Arsene’s internal turmoil. “And he cannot disclose this to Akira.”

“Why so?”

Goemon looked at him like he had grown a second head.

“Arsene,” he said after a long moment of consideration, a small laugh escaping his voice. “You've never had a child before, have you?”

“None that I know of.” Arsene replied honestly. “Barring Akira, of course.”

“Well,” Goemon huffed. “That explains a great deal.”

“How so?”

“Why, Arsene,” Goemon patted his shoulder. “Children _never_ tell the people they love their true feelings.”

* * *

“Night, guys.”

Akira was exhausted himself, but he managed to carry a limp, barely awake Morgana back home to Leblanc to meet Sojiro waiting at the counter as always, a small grin on his face. Arsene watched the teen greet his guardian tiredly, and Sojiro gestured at the cat in Akira’s arms.

“What's wrong with the cat?”

Akira fought back a yawn, and both Arsene and Zorro couldn't help but chuckle. Sojiro did the same, shaking his head fondly.

“What's up with you?” He amended, and Akira gave him a sleepy grin.

“Tired out.” He mumbled, and like that, Arsene thought, Akira looked very much like the innocent child he ought to have been, before all this.

(Before _him,_ Joker whispered in his head, and Arsene waved the phantom thief off.)

“Even Morgana?” Sojiro sighed, but he was smiling, setting up a plate of curry for Akira and a bowl of tuna for Morgana on the counter. “Sit down.”

“Yeah.” Akira slowly settled down on the stool across Sojiro to blink at the plate of food in front of him. The older man gave him a little pat on his head, and headed into the kitchen to get glasses of water. Zorro took this moment to help Morgana out of Akira’s bag, setting his master down on the counter next to the bowl of tuna.

“Mrrow…” Morgana blinked blearily, before finally noticing the tuna. “Tuna?” He gasped.

“C’mon, cat, eat up.” Sojiro said, coming back to set down two glasses of water—one for Akira and another for himself—and another bowl of water for Morgana. He scratched the cat between his ears, earning him a pleased meow, and Morgana settled down to eat. “So, how'd you get this bummed out?” He asked Akira. “You're not getting into trouble, are you?”

Akira sighed, and he surreptitiously looked at Arsene. The Persona chuckled, and nodded.

“After me, Akira.”

“We had PE today, and the new guy after Kamoshida ran us dry.” Akira said, as Arsene had told him to in his head. “Big joke: he's probably bigger than the principal too.”

An addition from Joker, and it put a grin on Sojiro’s face.

“And the cat?”

“He ran off chasing something, and he led me everywhere before I found him fighting off stray dogs.” Zorro’s input, and Morgana meowed in agreement. Sojiro laughed there, a warm, fond one that made Akira miss home, and Arsene could feel the pang of homesickness in his heart. “I chased the dogs off properly, though.”

Morgana’s pleased expression fell.

“So, kitty’s a delinquent just like you, huh?” Sojiro chuckled. “It's like you were made for each other.”

“Futaba has said sometimes my hair looks like cat ears.” Akira replied dryly.

“They do,” Arsene supplied, earning him a surreptitious kick in the shin.

Sojiro studied him for a long moment, before nodding. “She's right, you know.”

“You're just saying that because Futaba is your daughter.” Akira snorted and Sojiro laughed at that. Morgana laughed, too, and Sojro stroked his fur. “Thanks for the meal.”

“Don't forget to clean up, alright?” Sojiro said. “I'll be going.”

Akira gave him a lazy salute, and the man left the cafe.

“You're better at acting than Lady Ann.” Zorro commented, and Akira shrugged, grinning as he fiddled with a lock of his hair.

“Truly.” Arsene nodded. “As befitting of a phantom thief.”

Akira gave him a warm, shy smile. “Thanks.”

Arsene couldn't help but deflate.

Ah, he loved him.

 _Oopsie-daisy._ Joker’s voice drawled in his head, and Arsene froze. _That's sweet._

 _Get out of my head_ , Arsene thought witheringly as Akira and Morgana finished off their dinner, and Joker snickered.

_Can't. Just as much as you can't get out of mine._

Arsene shook his head, huffing, and Akira got up to wash their dishes.

* * *

Akira noticed Arsene’s discomfort as they headed upstairs to his room, and the teen gently grasped the edge of his sleeve, tugging softly as Zorro cradled the already-asleep Morgana. He pulled Arsene down to sit next to him on his bed as Zorro set Morgana down onto the cat bed Haru bought him a few days ago.

“Arsene, Akira,” Zorro said, “Morgana and I will retire now.”

“Night.” Akira gave them a small wave, and Zorro disappeared. He turned back to look at Arsene, and leant heavily against his Persona’s side. “What’s wrong?”

Of course Akira would know.

“I've been told interesting news,” he began carefully. “Akira, tell me. Have you begun showing interest in someone you like?”

Akira gave him the same look Goemon did back in Okumura’s Palace, and he began to wonder if he was missing out on something very, very obvious.

“Of course, if you are uncomfortable with it I will not pry,” now he just felt ridiculous for putting it out there and immediately back-pedalling. “However, it is about time for children your age to take interest in other people… romantically or sexually, of course.”

Akira continued to _look_ at him, and Arsene began regretting ever having brought it up.

Did Goemon have this discussion with Yusuke? Good God, this was awkward.

“… Or you could choose to stay silent, that _is_ an option too, yes.” Arsene nodded.

“Okay, are you asking me if I have a crush on anyone?” Akira asked slowly, finally choosing to speak, and Arsene sighed exasperatedly.

“I… do you like Yusuke?”

Akira blinked at him again, clearly surprised. “What are you talking about?”

In their heads, Joker began laughing. Arsene winced, and shook his head.

“I was simply wondering. Hypothetically speaking.” He stammered, “In a situation where Yusuke—or whomever it is you would like, I suppose—should confess to you, would you accept their feelings?”

Akira frowned at his Persona for a long moment, before shaking his head. “Why are you fixating on Yusuke?”

The fire behind Arsene’s mask flared in embarrassment. “No particular reason. I simply thought—”

“I like him?” Akira finished, and Arsene hesitated, before taking a deep breath.

“It is as you say.” He admitted. “Akira, I assure you, whoever your heart chooses I will be there to support you no matter what, so I—”

“Even if it's not Yusuke I like?”

Arsene’s world screeched to a halt there, and Goemon’s concerned voice rang through his head.

_“Yusuke has been struggling with confliction.”_

“Well, I…”

_“It is truly worrisome.”_

Akira looked at him expectantly, and Arsene deflated.

_“Yusuke is in love.”_

Poor Yusuke, he thought.

“Ryuji, then? Ann? Makoto?”

Akira crossed his arms, frowning slightly at Arsene. “What's gotten into you?” He asked, and Arsene shook his head.

“I am simply… looking out for you.” He said, reasoning as weak as his resolve to give Akira away to another to care for. “Goemon and I had a discussion regarding feelings, and…”

“Hm.” Akira hummed. “Well, there _is_ someone I like.”

_“Children never tell the people they love their true feelings.”_

“Ah, I see.” Arsene nodded. “Of course. You are of that age to begin forming an interest in a lover your age, true—”

He didn't know why he felt so… _disappointed._ He was Akira’s Persona, meant to _guard_ his heart, not _have_ it, and yet…

And yet.

Staring at Akira's grey eyes looking back at him, he couldn't help but want to hide his beautiful, precious child from everything that walked the face of the earth.

“That person is you.”

Arsene’s world screeched to a halt. Akira stared back at him, nonchalant as ever, and Arsene wasn't sure if he heard that right.

“What?” He deadpanned, disbelievingly. “Akira, you—”

The teen reached up to grasp either side of his face, and pulled him down to press a soft kiss to the corner of the jagged crack that was his mouth.

Arsene gaped at Akira as the boy pulled away, cheeks pink and eyes averted. In their heads, somehow, Joker was _still laughing._

 _He needs to stop that at once_ , Arsene thought bitterly.

 _Not when the show is this interesting_ , came the phantom thief’s coy reply.

“I like you, Arsene.” Akira replied slowly, as if Arsene was hard of hearing, though he could hear Joker’s smirk through his soft, plain voice. “You asked me who I had a crush on, and I answered. You.”

“I…” the Persona stammered. “I am not of your age.”

Akira shrugged. “Doesn't matter.” He said. “Some people in my shoes chose to date teachers or doctors and _they_ didn't get into trouble for it.”

“In your—” Arsene shook his head. “Akira, what on earth are you talking about?”

The teen huffed. “I don't understand why you're making such a huge deal out of this. I like you, Arsene. You like me. What's wrong with—”

“Now, just a moment, Akira, what do you mean _I like you_ —”

“You kissed my hand when we danced together.” Akira’s expression began to crumble, and Joker abruptly stopped laughing.

“That doesn't _mean_ anyth—”

“Joker said you loved me.”

“Joker.” Arsene sighed, infuriated. “ _Of course._ ”

Akira looked like he was ready to—for lack of a better term—burst. His lips were pursed, pressed into a thin line as his hands balled into fists on his lap. Beyond them, Morgana snored gently, and Akira took a shuddering breath.

“I like you, Arsene.” Akira repeated gingerly. “I couldn't bear parting from you when I fused you off to be someone else. I couldn't sleep, thinking about what things would have been like if I didn't do that, if I didn't ask for further help to beat Kamoshida.” His voice shook, and Arsene could feel the fractures of Akira’s heart creak and groan, ready to shatter. “When I found out Personas could cross into the real world, I—”

His eyes faded into red in a split second, and Akira wrapped his arms around himself.

No, not Akira.

Joker.

“Come on,” he murmured, “We said we wouldn't cry.”

“It is alright to.” Arsene said, and Joker glared at him. “I… I apologise, as well. For not being strong enough to protect the both of you.”

Joker deflated, frowning. “I wish I had my own body.” He shook his head, closing his eyes, and when he opened them again, Arsene looked into Akira’s soft grey eyes once again.

“I was jealous of my friends.” He admitted. “How they could live happily with their own Personas, how I couldn't, because I let you go.” Akira took Arsene’s hand and held it close to himself.

“But now I am here.” He said, and Akira nodded, smiling sadly. “Is that not enough?”

“I _like_ you, damn it.” Akira hissed, wiping at his eyes, and Arsene had had enough of seeing him like this. He pulled the teen into his embrace, and he felt Akira stiffen up for a moment on reflex, before completely melting into his warmth. “I like you.” He said again, quieter, as if to convince himself, a spoken whisper that echoed softer than the breaths of a sleeping cat.

“I love you, dearly.” Arsene replied, hugging Akira closer, and the teen tried to cuddle impossibly into him. “But Akira, I cannot be the end of it all.”

“Why not?” A murmured question, quivering like the shimmer of heat on asphalt. A mirage of rippling water, the silent, disquiet pain of denial.

“You know as well as I do that this kind of relationship would not…” he struggled to get the words out. “Work.” He pressed a soft kiss to the crown of Akira's head, inhaling his scent of coffee, of warmth, and _home_. Akira was all Arsene knew.

It hurt, admitting it. The truth was painful between them, like a dagger that ran through Arsene and into Akira’s heart.

Being cognitive beings, things took a turn for the literal, and they both heard Joker’s gasping whimper in their heads.

“Joker?” Akira whispered.

_Please, for the love of God, Arsene, stop thinking in metaphors._

Joker’s response was enough to get the teen giggling again, and relief surged in Arsene’s chest as he carefully turned Akira in his arms to look down at his master, sighing softly as he looked up at his Persona.

“I do not know how long I will be with you,” Arsene said quietly. “And for that, I deeply apologise.”

“I know.” Akira replied softly, reaching up to touch Arsene’s face, and the Persona could feel Akira’s fatigue and sleepiness slowly wash over him, easier now in the comfort of his embrace, and with the passage of time. “But for now, please?” He was mumbling now, his grip loosening on Arsene’s heated body, but the Persona held his hand to himself, humming softly as he helped Akira settle down into bed again. “Please… indulge… me.”

“I will,” he replied, cuddling his wings around Akira, and the teen smiled.

“Mm… thanks.” He said sleepily, “Love… you.”

Arsene jolted at that, and Joker’s laugh, ringing in their heads like sleigh bells, was softer this time around.

Kinder.

As Akira faded into sleep, so did Arsene fade from reality, and when he came face-to-face with Joker in Akira’s cognition, the phantom thief grinned at him and crossed his arms as the Persona shook his head and sat down on the ground.

“You’re adorable.”

“You’re a thing of inconvenience, you know that?” The Persona replied, but he did little else as Joker simply snickered, getting up from his cross-legged seat in the middle of the room to sit beside him, leaning against his side heavily.

“We _both_ are.” He said, and at that, Arsene sighed.

“Have we done him a disservice?” He asked, and Joker fell further to lie his head down on Arsene’s lap, looking up at him with big, red eyes. Arsene looked down at the teen, and Joker shrugged.

“Are we doing him a favour?”

“Why do you love throwing my questions back at me?”

Joker’s grin was catlike, and it only made Arsene exasperated and fond.

“Trickster.” Was all he offered for a reply, before his smile dropped into a pout of worry. “Hey, about Akira…”

“I swear to all that is sacred to us,” he ignored Joker’s ‘ _that’s not a lot_ ’ to continue, “I will protect his heart, until the day comes when the both of us will give it away.”

Joker fell silent at that, sombre as he looked up, unseeing, into the darkness above them.

“Take his heart, huh…” He said slowly, and Arsene nodded. “I haven’t seen it, actually. Do you think someone took it?”

“I hope it is Yusuke.”

“You pity the poor guy too much.” Joker stuck his tongue out at him. “Well, whatever. They can all sort it out whenever.” He said, turning over on Arsene’s lap to face away from him. “I’m gonna try sleeping too.”

“You know you can’t.”

“Doesn’t mean I won’t try.”

Arsene snorted at that, and let Joker be, sitting completely still for a long time. He did jolt slightly when he felt something tumble into his hand, and he looked down to see a blurry haze of white resting against his palm, and he stared at it disbelievingly for a long moment, before belatedly realising Joker had turned around to look at it as well. The two cognitive beings looked at each other, and Joker’s lips curled into a coy smirk.

“Stolen his heart, have you.” He said, “My, Sir Arsene. Would that make you a cradle robber as well?”

Arsene smacked him upside the head for that, but Joker only laughed and rolled off him to lie down elsewhere in the barren, black room the two of them shared. Arsene looked down at Akira’s Treasure—his _heart_ , and chuckled to himself softly.

Someday, he would hand this over to someone else willingly, but that day, and that Arsene, were very, very far off in the distance.

For now, he thought, perhaps in indulging his master, he can also indulge himself.

He held Akira’s heart close to his chest, wishing only the barest of whispers that he had his own to match its steady marching beat, and he smiled.

For now, he thought.

For now, Akira’s heart was his, and his alone.

And that was fine.

**Author's Note:**

> breakdances gently as always i'm over at @trickscd if u wanna yell at me or smth hehehe
> 
> idk if it's obvious but this akira is a NG+ akira who's using the network functionality to get through. that's why he knows there are other akiras out there that have dated teachers or doctors, iykwim.
> 
> after this fic should be either akechi/fem!akira or fox/fem!joker nsfw. haven't decided yet. could go with a wildcard and do iwai/fem!akira instead lol i d k i just love, ,, , ,,, [clenches fist] fem!akira i would die for her, i would let her step on me, i would eat her out


End file.
